Last September Grant Ritchie, CEO of crowdsourced location data company Locationary, penned an article for TechCrunch
describing five challenges Apple faces as it builds out its new mapping
service. Ten months later he’s become part of the effort to overcome
them.

Apple has acquired the Toronto-based Locationary, a small Canadian
startup, backed by Extreme Venture Partners and Plazacorp Ventures.
Multiple sources familiar with the deal tell AllThingsD
it closed recently and includes Locationary’s technology and team,
both. The price of the acquisition couldn’t immediately be learned.